ARC Review: A Drop of Night by Stefan Bachmann

Title: A Drop of Night 
Author: Stefan Bachmann 
Source: Edelweiss 
Publisher: Greenwillow Books 
Publication Date: March 15th 2016
Add it to Goodreads! 

Summary: 

Five gifted teenagers are selected out of hundreds of other candidates to fly to France and help with the excavation of a vast, underground palace buried a hundred feet below the suburbs of Paris. Built in the 1780's to hide an aristocratic family and a mad duke during the French Revolution, the palace was sealed after the aristocrats fled there. No one has set foot in it for over two centuries. Or so they thought. But nothing is as it seems, and the teenagers—bitter, iron-hearted Anouk, gentle Will, bubbly Lilly, and crazy Jules— soon find themselves embroiled in a game far more sinister, and dangerous, than they could possibly have imagined. An evil spanning centuries is waiting for them in the depths. . . You cannot escape the palace. You cannot guess its secrets.

Review:

This book screwed with my head big time. It has been three days since I finished it and I am still not sure what to say. It definitely wasn't what I expected it to be. I really love things like hidden locations and archaeological digs and the mystery that surrounds those situations. Like, the Romonav family in Russia in 1918. I love those things. So, I wasn't expecting the fantasy aspect. 

Anouk is bitter, mean and all around a horrible person to be around. I wasn't able to form a connect with her through out the entirety of the book. Anouk doesn't have a great family life, so when she receives a letter in the mail for this historical dig she jumps at the opportunity to leave home. From the moment she met the other teens she would be working with (Will, Lilly, Jules, and Hayden) she finds something to hate about each of them. Though I didn't like Anouk, she did warm up towards her small group of friends at the end of the novel. 

Most time characterization is everything to me. If I don't like the main character I won't finish the book (most time.) But the plot was intriguing and a page turner, so continued on. Reading this in the dead of night wasn't the brightest idea. I frighten easily and there were several scenes in A Drop of Night that sent chills down my spine. 

I can't talk much about this book with out ruining it. It runs big on the mystery. Overall I did like A Drop of Night enough to continue on with it. But, if I had a choice to read this book again I wouldn't. 

Rating: